1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a dust collecting unit for a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to an improved dust collecting unit for a cyclonic vacuum cleaner capable of more efficiently performing a dust collecting function and easily treating the collected dust and dirt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A vacuum cleaner is an apparatus which sucks air containing foreign materials using a vacuum pressure generated by a vacuum motor installed in a main body of the vacuum cleaner, filters out the dust and dirt from the air within the main body and then casts the collected dust and dirt.
Further, a paper filter taking the shape of an envelope has been generally used as a filter for filtering out the suctioned foreign materials. Such paper filter is designed to allow air to penetrate therethrough but the foreign materials such as the dust and dirt to remain therein so that the dust and dirt contained in the suctioned air can be filtered out.
However, the vacuum cleaner with such paper filter has inconvenience of use in that if the foreign materials are accumulated within the paper filter to a predetermined level after a certain period of use, a suction force of the vacuum cleaner is reduced and thus the paper filter muted be periodically replaced.
To solve the above inconvenience, a vacuum cleaner for performing the filtering in a cyclonic fashion has been proposed.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional cyclonic vacuum cleaner. Referring to FIG. 1, the vacuum cleaner comprises a main body 10 in which a suction means for sucking air in a room is installed, a flexible connection tube 24 which is connected to the main body 10 to communicate with the interior of the main body, a variable length extension tube 22 which is connected to an end of the connection tube 24 to communicate with the interior of the connection tube, and a suction nozzle 21 for sucking air containing foreign materials from a floor by means of a suction force generated in the main body 10.
Further, in the main body 10 is installed a dust collecting unit 11 which is detachably mounted to a rear side of the main body. The dust collecting unit 11 causes the air sucked from the suction nozzle 21 to be introduced therein and then the dust and dirt in the air to be collected in a cyclonic fashion. Further, at one side of the main body 10 is formed a discharge portion 19 for discharging the air, from which the foreign materials are filtered out through the dust collecting unit 11, to the atmosphere.
A pair of wheels 18 for traveling the main body 10 on the floor are rotatably installed on a lower surface of the main body 10. Further, a power cord 16 for supplying the vacuum cleaner with electric power is installed at another side of the main body 10. The power cord 16 can be wound around a cord reel (not shown) in the main body and be stored in the main body.
The dust collecting unit 11 includes a grip 12 for allowing a user to hold the unit when it is rearward mounted to or demounted from the main body 10. Further, a handle 14, which the user can grip when intending to carry the vacuum cleaner, is installed at a top surface of the main body 10.
When the main body 10 of the vacuum cleaner so constructed is operated, the suction force is transmitted to the suction nozzle 21 through the connection tube 24 and the extension tube 22 by means of the vacuum pressure generated in the main body. Here, the suction force of the vacuum cleaner can be adjusted by a switch 25 that is installed on a grip portion 23 coupled to an upper portion of the extension tube 22.
In addition, the air containing the foreign materials on the floor to be cleaned is introduced into the main body 10 through the suction nozzle 21, the extension tube 22 and the connection tube 24 by means of the suction force. Then, the air is introduced into the dust collecting unit 11, and the dust and dirt are filtered out by a predetermined filter and additionally discharged to the outside.
A high power motor should have been used in such a dust collecting unit 11 to compensate for a loss of suction force caused in an air flow path of the vacuum cleaner. Further, there is a problem in that a plurality of steps of discharging the collected dust and dirt from the dust collecting unit 11 to the outside must be performed.